MH’s Healthy Body Healthy Mind Manifesto

Another day, another broken health promise. After Jeremy Hunt claimed this is the year spending on mental health would increase, new figures show 57% of hospital governing bodies aren't sticking to the pledge. In fact, they're spending less.

We've got some pledges you can stick to. This year we launched our Mend The Gap campaign, encouraging men to speak up about male mental health issues, and you got involved in droves. Fronted by high-profile names such as Ricky Hatton, Stephen Fry, Alastair Campbell and more, we created five affirmative-action pledges to help you, your colleagues and your doctor improve the state of mental health for men. Sick of relying on the government? Time to take matters into your own hands. It's time to Mend the Gap.

Talk is cheap; it’s action that will save lives. This month MH is initiating a campaign to change the perception of mental health at personal, societal, institutional and governmental levels. Ultimately, we need physical and mental health to be given equal billing, and that starts with you. This is your five-point manifesto – a plan we'll be exploring point-by-point each day online.

Spread the word. #MendTheGap.

1. “I pledge to take care of my own mental health”

We believe the first step to improved mental wellbeing is addressing our own susceptibilities. One in four of us will be diagnosed with a mental health condition. Those of us who are risk dying 15-20 years earlier. Just as you’d get a regular dental check-up, you owe it to yourself to assess your head.

2. “I pledge to mobilise both myself and others at work”

The workplace stigma has to end. Just 43% of people with mental health problems are in employment; those who are employed often feel unable to come clean about their situation and therefore suffer in silence; 70% have been put off applying for jobs, fearing unfair treatment. Mental health first aiders in the workplace could help eliminate the taboo. We want working men to come together and ask their employers to sign the Time to Change Employer Pledge card and commit to fixing attitudes and insecurities.

3. “I pledge to demand increased provision for mental health at a local level”

Tragically, 25% of men who take their own lives are in contact with their GP the week they die, suggesting the need for a radical reform in the way mental health issues are dealt with at first contact. GPs should be equipped to do more than simply prescribe antidepressants or pass patients on to a chronically over-subscribed counselling wait list.

4. “I pledge to demand parity between mental and physical wellbeing on a national level”

Mental health accounts for 23% of NHS activity, yet spending is equivalent to half of this. There is a palpable deficit in time, resource and care. We want the government to commit to more support and for the right care to be available 24/7.

5. “I pledge to look out for my contemporaries”

Suicide is both the starkest and most needless of crises we face. After many years of decline, it has begun rising once more. It’s now the leading cause of death for men aged 15-49. Men account for almost four out of five suicides. No government or health service can do as much to reverse this as you. Look out for your friends, keep an eye on colleagues and don’t neglect your relatives. If you’ve noticed someone beginning to withdraw, help dig him out of a rut. Exercise the body and exorcise the mind, together. The physical and the mental are more closely related than you realise.

ACT NOW! Head to mhsurvival.co.uk and sign up with a friend for one of our five Survival of the Fittest events.

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